WATCH: clerk with machete chases off armed robber

posted by Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

(NEWSER) – In a move police strongly recommend others don't try to emulate, a machete-wielding clerk chased a would-be armed robber out of a Long Island deli — even after the suspect fired a warning shot from his handgun.

Surveillance video captured the clerk pulling out the machete after the masked man walked into the store and demanded cash. Another clerk at the Brentwood store says his colleague didn't realize the gun was real.

"He thought it was a fake gun — it was a very small gun, so that's why he reacted like that," the clerk told CBS, adding that "in some part, we're proud of him, but in some way he risked his life."